“We Do Mapuche Stuff”
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“WE DO MAPUCHE STUFF” Cultural Transmission and Ethnic Identity among Mapuche Children Report from a Minor Field Study by Evangelina Villar Fuentes A Master Thesis in Cultural Anthropology Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology Uppsala University Supervisor: Juan Carlos Gumucio April 2004 “WE DO MAPUCHE STUFF” Cultural Transmission and Ethnic Identity among Mapuche Children ABSTRACT This study deals with how the traditional knowledge of the Mapuche, in southern Chile, is transmitted to the younger generation. Special focus is put on how the children themselves view the world in which they live, and how they create their own version of the culture that is transmitted to them. Their own thoughts and reflections are viewed as important as the author consider children to be both objects and agents in the process of acquiring culture. Because even though their view of the world is influenced by the surrounding society they are active in the construction of meaning and in creating and internalising a worldview of their own. The cultural transmission of a minority culture is closely connected to the indigenous group’s ethnic identity, as much of what is transmitted is precisely what distinguishes the group from others. In this study special regard is given to traditional language and traditional religion as they are viewed as important ethnic markers. Both issues, language and religion, are seen through the eyes of four Mapuche girls. The study also presents a discussion about the importance of bilingual schooling as it is considered a vital element in enhancing the children’s knowledge of their maternal language. The implementation of bilingual education is also seen as a way for the State to acknowledge and support the continuing survival of an ethnic minority. Keywords: Mapuche, children, socialisation, ethnic identity, language, religion, bilingualism. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this moment to thank all those who have helped and supported me during the long process of getting this thesis completed. My foremost debt is to the Mapuche, particularly the people of the indigenous communities in and around Melipeuco. My extended gratitude is of course due to my host-family, especially the girls, who took their time to welcome me into their lives and for answering all those complicated and sometimes silly questions. A special thanks to “Granny H.” for all the fascinating talks. I am in their debt and will keep them in my heart forever. I also want to thank Dra. Valdés for making the contact with the Andrés Huenupi community possible. I owe special thanks to my supervisor Dr. Juan-Carlos Gumucio for guiding me in my writing and for providing interesting and insightful comments on numerous specific points. I would also like to thank my good friend Ms. Magdalena Brzezinska whose encouraging pep talks made all the difference when things looked bleak and desperate. Thanks are also due to everyone at the Department of Cultural Anthropology at Uppsala University; their cheerful persistence in wanting to know how the study was coming along pushed me to do my best. The fieldwork in Alpehue was made possible by the generous financial support of SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency). Last but not least I would like to thank my family and friends, both in Chile and in Sweden, who showed large amounts of support and patience with me when writing this thesis. Needless to say, the experiences, the faults, and the interpretations are all mine. 3 ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................3 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................5 Fieldwork and Method .................................................................................7 Outline of the Study......................................................................................9 I. ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF CHILDREN ...................10 II. THEORETICAL POINTS OF DEPARTURE .....................................13 Self-identity..................................................................................................15 Psychological anthropology.....................................................................16 Cognitive theory........................................................................................18 Worldview....................................................................................................19 How do we understand our world?..........................................................20 Symbolic capital and habitus ...................................................................22 Acquisition of Culture: Enculturation and Socialisation........................23 Social learning theory and the ‘developmental niche’ theory................29 III. ETHNOGRAPHIC AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.............31 Earlier studies concerning the Mapuche..................................................34 The Research Setting..................................................................................37 IV. GROWING UP AS A MAPUCHE TODAY ........................................42 General Expectations for Children ...........................................................45 Children’s Everyday Lives: Socialisation in Context..............................49 V. LANGUAGE AND RELIGION AS ETHNIC MARKERS.................53 VI. THE IMPORTANCE OF MAPUDUNGUN.......................................58 The use of random words...........................................................................62 VII. THE VIEW ON TRADITIONAL RELIGION................................68 Participating in a Nguillatun .....................................................................74 VIII. CHILDREN AND THE LOSS OF CULTURE..............................79 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................87 GLOSSARY....................................................................................................91 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................92 4 INTRODUCTION “Children are the seeds each society plants for its cultural sustenance” (Lancy 1996: 11) People think and talk about their situation and experiences in many different ways. To be able to understand social life and cultural notions the starting point must be that people’s actions always have a meaning, at the same time one has to understand that meaning is something equivocal. People in all societies have conceptions and ideas about the world and the social relations in which they take part. These thoughts are not just personal, they are shared with other people in their surroundings, the thoughts are socially produced and in some way collective. From this follows that there is variation and complexity in the view of what children are as well. The boundaries between child and adult can shift according to both social structure and social practice. There is no specific way to be social and no given notions about the meaning of being human, thus there is no specific way to be a child in a society. The knowledge that is handed down to children and the perspectives they have of existence with its possibilities and limitations is related to the perspectives and social conditions of the adults (Norman 1996: 85). It is my intention to in this Master thesis describe and discuss the process by which the Mapuche of Southern Chile reproduce their culture and society as an ideological and moral system. The idea is to trace what the Mapuche value as Mapuche and how these values are transmitted to the younger generation. The main focus of the study is on the children themselves and their views of the world in which they live. I will claim that this is best served by looking at the children as both objects and agents in the transmission of culture. In my explicit aim to study children on their own terms, I follow 5 Steedly’s path of attending to “stories situated on the edge of exclusion” (1993: 31). While she emphasises the stories of women in a world dominated by men, I will describe the everyday lives of ethnic minority children and emphasise on their stories in a world dominated by adults. My opinion is that, if the women’s stories are viewed as untold and marginalized in the anthropological field, then the children’s stories are totally ignored. Much of the study will centre on socialisation, as it is the process whereby a child gains consciousness and procures the knowledge and abilities that fits the specific culture, which he or she was born into. A more simple way of putting it would be that we learn our culture through socialisation. Culture should, in this case, be understood in its most general sense; as a collective identity or a specific way of life shared by the members of a society or group. This definition of culture is close to Talcott Parsons, as he saw culture as a collective symbolic discourse. What it discoursed on was knowledge, beliefs, and values (Kuper 1999: 16). Every community or society has its own culture, with its specific values, that marks it off from all others, and every member of that community or society has a share in its culture. A discussion about cultural transmission of a minority culture invariably leads to the question of ethnic identity, because much of what is seen as valuable to teach the children is almost identical